Fog light question

[MSPTNY02]

i have a 2008 highlander limited. i purchased it as a left over in january of 2009. since i have had it, i changed my headlight and fog light bulbs as i always do, unless they are xenon, which these obviously are not. i put in PIAA xtreme white bulbs which i have used in the past on other cars and SUV's. now, after a year, my fog lights keeping blowing fuses. like, i put a new fuse in, turn them on, it immediately blows. i brought it to the dealer today and they said its my bulbs. these aftermarket bulbs are also 55w, as are the OEM ones, so why after a year are they blowing? to me it sounds like a wiring problem or short. i called another toyota dealer and told them this and they said i was right. anyone else had this problem or know what the problem could be? thanks.

[luck123]

Originally Posted by MSPTNY02

i have a 2008 highlander limited. i purchased it as a left over in january of 2009. since i have had it, i changed my headlight and fog light bulbs as i always do, unless they are xenon, which these obviously are not. i put in PIAA xtreme white bulbs which i have used in the past on other cars and SUV's. now, after a year, my fog lights keeping blowing fuses. like, i put a new fuse in, turn them on, it immediately blows. i brought it to the dealer today and they said its my bulbs. these aftermarket bulbs are also 55w, as are the OEM ones, so why after a year are they blowing? to me it sounds like a wiring problem or short. i called another toyota dealer and told them this and they said i was right. anyone else had this problem or know what the problem could be? thanks.

Sounds like a short to me. To troubleshoot, did you try swapping the bulbs back to OEM and see if the same thing occurs? If it still shorts, then that nukes your dealer's theory about the bulbs being the culprit. That said, they may claim that your PIAAS, for whatever reason, have drawn more power or overheated the wires causing a short somewhere along the circuit. Don"t see why this would happen though. I have had OSRAM Nightbreakers in my fogs without issue.

[MSPTNY02]

i thought of replacing them with the OEM ones but they are such a pain in the ars that i had the dealer do the swap for me back in the day. they merely told my wife the wires look good so then the bulbs must be pulling too much power. yeah like all of a sudden after how many months they got hungry. im never going back to that dealer again.

[MSPTNY02]

ok, tried changing the bulbs from above but that didnt work. so i went down below and changed them. to no obvious surprise, the fuse blew. and to top it off, when i took off the PIAA bulbs, the connectors had dried dirt on them telling me my awesome dealer did nothing but look at the harness and say they look fine. they obviously didnt even take the bulbs our or inspect them. anyone know how to make a complaint about a dealer? when people dont do their jobs, people who are out there and are waiting for work could be taking their place. this is ridiculous.

[luck123]

Originally Posted by MSPTNY02

i thought of replacing them with the OEM ones but they are such a pain in the ars that i had the dealer do the swap for me back in the day. they merely told my wife the wires look good so then the bulbs must be pulling too much power. yeah like all of a sudden after how many months they got hungry. im never going back to that dealer again.

EDIT....oops....I guess we were posting at the same time!!!

Disregard my "how to" change the bulbs originally posted. Not sure I can help with the complaint issue.

[MSPTNY02]

nevermind, i found an email to toyota. ill post more after i talk to helen keller at the dealer tomm